Five Reasons the Scap Craze May Have Gone Too Far

Part of the current lexicon of hitting instruction is focus on the scapula, particularly the rear scapula. Actually a huge part. Not a week goes by that I don’t get a player or coach ask me about the rear scap. I myself have definitely contributed to this craze (I have more than one article on rear shoulder function on my website). But alas I believe us hitting instructors have gone too far and need to give the rear scap a break. Let me outline a few reasons why. 1. Scapular function in hitters varies greatly. If you have read my articles on the swing plane, you know that hitters are successful with varying degrees of scapular function. Some use a lot, some use very little. There is no absolute. I have shown both of these clips before contrasting Troy Tulowitzki and Buster Posey. Tulo obviously has a more pronounced scap move. Posey has a better career wRC+ than Tulo, does that mean Posey’s is better? Well, good luck telling Tulowitzki that.

Besides this, we can also see that… 2. Scapular function is very complex. Quick, name the movements of the elbow joint with the associated muscles responsible for the movements. Pretty easy, the triceps control extension and the biceps control flexion. Now name all the movements of the scapula and clavicle with muscles responsible. Crickets. I’m not saying everyone needs a medical degree to be a hitting instructor, just be aware that these movements are pretty complex and take some understanding. And for the record, I am the worst for this because I understand the movements just well enough to sound stupid when I describe them. Not only is scapular movement very complex, we know that… 3. Scapular function is highly individual. Static scapular alignment can vary from individual to individual, and this is especially true in the baseball population. Take a look at the scapular posture of these two individuals.

One sits in heavy upwardly rotated posture, while the other is rhomboid dominated retracted posture. Asking these individuals to “load the scap” is going to mean vastly different things. Our guy on the right lives in state of loaded scap, while the guy on the left will never get there. Besides static alignment, scapular movement depends on thoracic and glenohumeral mobility, again two highly individual qualities. So trying to get hitters to get X amount of retraction then Y amount of upward rotation or whatever is really misguided. Besides this, we can see that… 4. Coaching the scapula is an internal focus cue. Studies have shown that using external coaching is much more productive than internal cues. And you can’t get much more internal than a bone you can’t see without a mirror. For example, in a bench press, do you think about retracting the scapula on the way down then protracting it on the way up? Those movements happen, but I bet the thought process is more “lower the bar, then get the damn weight up.” Not only is worrying about the scapula an internal focus, we see that…5. Focusing on the scapula can get overdone very quickly. Tell someone to load the scap and they sure will. And probably not much else in the swing. During the swing the scapula moves from various states freely (much like the golf swing) and has to be able to adjust. Thinking about loading or pinching the scap is a sure-fire way to make the movements really stiff. One of my favorite clips to use is this one of Josh Donaldson hitting a home run on a slider. Donaldson has to make a small timing adjustment because he is slightly ahead of the pitch. We can see him allow his scapula to protract to add a little length to the swing path to make contact with the ball. If he just locked it down he would just simply swing over the ball.

Plus a freely moving scapula allows us to get extension on our follow-through, and who doesn’t love extension? You may be thinking, “What gives Jerry? Your articles are full of scap articulations!” You would be correct. But remember, my stuff is just academic. I write this way because I like showing WHAT happens and trying to make myself sound smart (the later more than the former). I am not saying this is the best way to explain HOW we should get there. Think about physical therapy, the job of the therapist is to restore movement, not explain what happens at the joint level. The patient doesn’t care, they just want to be able to move again. Now some individuals are more cerebral than others (Josh Donaldson, Trevor Bauer come to mind) and benefit from knowing how things work under the hood. But if the hitter isn’t of this personality, let’s find a better way to get the movement we want through movement stimulus. (For reference, Kyle Boddy has a great article here on efficiently improving pitching mechanics. I believe hitting should go more toward this.) So what do you say, can we give the rear scap a rest and focus on another way to get the movements we want? (Now the lead scap, that’s a different story. Ha!)